This invention relates to apparatus and process for manufacture of variegated soap bars.
Soap bars having color patterns (e.g. marbleization, striation, mottling), referred to herein as variegated soap bars, have been manufactured for many years. Such manufacture often includes use of soap noodles with some of the noodles being of one color and some of the noodles being of a second color. Traditionally, there has been a problem in obtaining uniform appearance soap bars in such manufacture.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,772, Borcher et al., issued Nov. 23, 1976, is addressed to solving such problem. The invention of that patent requires use of a narrow range of noodle sizes and ratios of sizes which are not always convenient or desirable. Moreover, manufacture in accordance with that invention sometimes results in bars having a smeared appearance or having a rather bold color tone which most consumers like less than a muted color tone.
It is an object of this invention to provide apparatus and process for manufacturing variegated soap bars whereby color appearance variation from bar to bar is minimized without the need for utilizing narrow ranges of noodle sizes and ratios of sizes and where in general there is less sensitivity to process conditions and therefore less need for operator control in relation to producing bars of muted unsmeared color appearance.